Tuesday, 13 April 2021
Knight in Shining Armor (Magic and Alchemy)
Monday, 12 April 2021
Jewels (Magic and Alchemy)
Saturday, 10 April 2021
In their Eyes (Magic and Alchemy)
Friday, 9 April 2021
How to be the Thunder! (Magic and Alchemy)
Thursday, 8 April 2021
Give me your Hand (Magic and Alchemy)
Wednesday, 7 April 2021
Flirting with the Mountain Breeze (Magic and Alchemy)
Tuesday, 6 April 2021
Emotional Ebb and Flows (Magic and Alchemy)
Monday, 5 April 2021
Dancing with a Cyclone (Magic and Alchemy)
To thrash me down
to the pebbled floor
Saturday, 3 April 2021
Courage, the Queen sitting in your heart (Magic and Alchemy)
Friday, 2 April 2021
Blossoming Overnight (Magic and Alchemy)
Thursday, 1 April 2021
A Time You Felt Happy (Magic and Alchemy)
Do you
remember a time
you felt truly happy?
Not for a flickering few minutes,
But for what felt like eternity;
Dancing in the air kind of happy
Spreading love like confetti kind of happy
Feeling that you belong to the entire universe kind of happy?
Close your eyes
Take a deep breath
Feel at home with hope and love
Radiating through every cell of your body.
Walk into that room of your mind
that carries the fragrance of the happy time;
Look for its source in every nook and corner
till you tire out and fail;
Now see yourself in a new light
Yes, You - the Creator
of Absolute Happiness and Bliss,
of every great thing that has happened in your life.
-Purba Chakraborty
01.04.2021
Thursday, 25 March 2021
#BlogchatterA2Z Theme Reveal: Magic and Alchemy (Poetry)
Sunday, 21 March 2021
Combat Body Shaming to Protect Your Mental Health
All of us have faced body shaming at least at some
point in our lives. Body shaming is not just restricted to fat-shaming and thin
shaming; it can be any derogatory comment about your body. If someone comments
how frizzy your hair looks or the number of grey hair that you have, it is body
shaming. If someone comments about your skin colour, teeth, eyes, nose, lips, or
any other part of your body in a derogatory way, it is body shaming.
There are two major problems of failing to stand up
for ourselves when we are subjected to body shaming:
(i)
Our mental health gets compromised.
(ii)
We give the body shamers another chance
to hurt us.
If we all speak up, if we stand up for ourselves
every time someone passes a derogatory comment about our body and we promise
ourselves not to indulge in body shaming, the venomous culture of body shaming
would die a natural death.
Here are some tips to combat body-shaming:
1.
Understand that people who body shame others are victims of body
shaming
First
of all, it is important to understand who these body shamers are. They are
chronic victims of body shaming and are always uncomfortable with their bodies.
As they have such a hateful relationship with their body, they pull others down
by body shaming.
Realizing
this truth can help us forgive those people easily and not take their words to
heart.
2.
Speak up
When someone passes a comment about your body
weight or skin colour or hair, speak up. Let the person know it is not alright
to comment about your body. Let the person know that you will not tolerate and
give space for such a conversation.
If it is a friend, give a generous smile and
tell him/her that you are happy and you love yourself just the way you are. If
your friend wants to drag the discussion, ask whether they are happy with their
body. If they are, they should not bother about how you look.
If it is an elder who is commenting about
your body weight due to concern for you, smile and tell them it is your body
type and that you are perfectly healthy. So he/she does not have to worry about
you.
If it is a stranger who is commenting about
your body, tell them to mind their own business.
I agree it is not easy to give a reply to the
body shamer especially when it is a person who is close to you. But keeping
quiet will worsen your mental health and allow that person to criticize you
once again.
3.
Develop a healthy and harmonious relationship with your body
If
you want to combat body shaming, you have to develop a healthy relationship
with your body. The foundation of the relationship needs to be so strong that a
derogatory comment about your body cannot shake it.
Practice
loving affirmations towards your body every day. Stand in front of the mirror
and say these affirmations aloud:
“I love my body. I send
love to each organ, bone, muscle, and part of my body.”
“My body is a miracle.
I take care of my body by feeding it nutritious food. I enjoy caring for
myself.”
“My body is perfect for
me. I am beautiful and attractive just the way I am.”
“I am comfortable in my
skin. I accept all of me.”
Invest your time and energy in taking good care of yourself. Make your relationship with your body so strong and harmonious that no one’s comment can make you doubt yourself.
These are three tips to combat body shaming on a
regular basis. Our mental health gets badly affected when we quietly tolerate
body shaming and drown ourselves in self-doubts. We try a wide range of things
to look perfect so that our body shamers speak well about us. But guess what?
No matter how we look, our body shamers will always have something wrong to
tell if we give them that space.
So, let’s pledge today to
-Stand up for ourselves when someone makes a
derogatory statement about our body
-Develop a healthy, loving, and harmonious
relationship with our body
-Never indulge in body shaming
We are all in this together!
Sunday, 28 February 2021
5 Ways to Journal for Good Mental Health
I started journaling in 2014 after listening to
Robin Sharma’s mastery sessions. Journaling has helped me in understanding
myself, having better clarity of my goals, releasing pent-up anger, expressing
my gratitude, and be more organized.
Over the years, I have become a calmer and more emotionally
stable person due to journaling. Earlier, I used to have massive mood swings
which I comprehended as normal. I never tried to understand why my mood
changed. I used to distract myself with Netflix or Social Media until my mood
changed for the better.
I write in my journal every Sunday evening. I review
the bygone week and plan the next week. I have downloaded a journal App on my
phone called ‘Presently’ where I write down the things that I am grateful for,
every single day. Apart from these rituals, I journal when I feel upset,
confused, and chaotic. From my own experience, I can say that Journaling is the
key to good mental health.
In this article, I will discuss 5 ways to journal to
feel happy, calm, and emotionally stable.
1.List of
Things That You are Grateful For
Making a list of things that you are grateful for
can make you feel so much good about your life. As I have mentioned, I have
this ritual of writing down 10 things I am grateful for.
No matter how stressful your day is, there is always
something to be grateful for. And when we feel grateful for all the things that
we have, we attract better things in our life.
2.Letter
Writing
If you are angry or upset with someone, write a
letter to them in your journal. Write everything that you want to tell them in
person. Once you have written down all those feelings, you will start feeling
better. Then, you can talk to that person depending on the equation that you
share or you can just wish them well and move on.
Often, our suppressed feelings give way to pain and
depression. So, if anyone’s behavior has hurt you, you can write a letter to
them in your journal.
3.Express
your feelings about a situation
If you find yourself in a troubling situation where
you are confused or upset, write down in your journal about your feelings about
that particular situation. As you will pour your thoughts on paper, things will
get clearer. The Divine Intelligence will guide you in understanding the best
that you can do in your situation.
4.Get
to Know Yourself
When you spend more time with yourself, you will
know yourself better. Journaling is a great way to know about your likes,
dislikes, strengths, weakness, fears, and anxieties. You can use these simple
prompts to know yourself better:
I feel the best when…..
I feel upset and angry when….
My strengths….
My weaknesses….
I worry about….
3 dreams that I want to fulfill….
5.
Review the last week
I already told about my Sunday evening ritual when I
contemplate the bygone week. Doing this exercise helps me understand how I can be
a better and more organized person.
We keep learning various things every week but
because we don’t document them, we forget those precious insights. So, it is a
great idea to review the last week on your journal and make plans for the week
ahead.
Now that you know about 5 different ways to journal,
I would like to share a few tips that will make your journaling journey a
comfortable one:
(i)Let your journal be a judgment-free zone. Do not
judge yourself by what you have written.
(ii)Do not worry about grammar and spelling. Write
freely without worrying about a spelling mistake or a typo.
(iii)Set a timer of fifteen minutes. Keep writing
till the timer buzzes.
(iv)Write every day at least for five minutes to
gain maximum benefit.
Embark on this beautiful and peaceful journey of
journaling today. You will not only have better mental health but you will
discover yourself as your best friend.